


home belongs with our hearts

by BlueSapphire718



Series: we will reach the skies (with the stars in our minds) [2]
Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Developing Relationship, F/M, Families of Choice, Force-Sensitive Clones (Star Wars), Friendship, Gen, Light Angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-21
Updated: 2020-05-21
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:48:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,484
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23794141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueSapphire718/pseuds/BlueSapphire718
Summary: Months after investigating the cloning facilities in Kamino and the Jedi Order has split apart, Shaak ends up escaping with several tiny clones and one clone by the name of Colt.(Or, where Shaak adopts tiny clone cadets, Colt is intrigued by the one he’s told who is his enemy, and the clone cadets learn what home really is.)
Relationships: CT-5385 | Tup & Dogma (Star Wars) & Domino Squad, Colt (Star Wars) & Clone Troopers, Plo Koon & Shaak Ti, Plo Koon/CC-3636 | Wolffe, Shaak Ti & Clone Troopers, Shaak Ti/Colt (Star Wars)
Series: we will reach the skies (with the stars in our minds) [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1714204
Comments: 24
Kudos: 166





	home belongs with our hearts

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to the second fic of _we will reach the skies (with the stars in our minds)_! Thank you and shout out again to blackkat for letting me use her AU #12, which you can find in her tumblr.
> 
> Without further ado, enjoy!

Shaak considers herself as a respected Jedi Master, one who has sworn to help and protect all of those in need, the innocent, the weak, and her home. She sworn to lead a life where she will try and make peace across the galaxy. Has sworn, and yet, there’s always something that she has failed to notice.

Like now.

Like the clones and the war.

Silence weaves itself through the air as she lightly steps in the hallways, careful to avoid any patrols, slowly waving a hand to conceal herself from them and security footage. A storm rages outside, mostly muffled by the transparisteel, the wind howling and crashing against the building. 

Her lightsaber hangs heavily by her side, reminds Shaak of the duty she has sworn to do. If there’s a way to free the clones without harming them, without having to fight them, the Jedi may have a chance to prevent the war from continuing. 

To find a way to stop the Separatists from using clones as their army, when the clones are everything that the Jedi should have tried harder to prevent. A way to save the innocents. But- it has already happened and all they can do is move forward, in order to stop the war.

The Force softly hisses a warning to her, making her stop and tilt her head to the side. A faint aura of someone looms closer to her, and she ducks behind a wall, listens to the footsteps padding along before it stops near her. Anticipation of a fight and adrenaline runs through her veins, her hand drifting towards her ‘saber.

Inclines her head to peer out and sees a pair of clones standing close to each other.

Pearl white armour gleams under the crack of lightning in the sky.

“Any intruders?” a low voice from one of the clones asks, distorted by the bucket.

“None so far,” the other clone answers, then tilts his head to the side. “Why? You worried, Colt? No one is going to be able to infiltrate here, especially with a storm outside. Not even a Jedi can get through that.”

Colt snorts, the sound muffled. “You’re underestimating the enemy again, Havoc. We fought them before.”

“The one that kidnapped Wolffe?” Havoc asks dryly, heaves a blaster over his shoulder as the clone shoots what seems to be a dirty look to the other clone.

Shaak holds her breath to prevent them from hearing her approach them carefully, before warping her presence away. Knows how well she can conceal herself within the Force, and it’s easy to sink into, easy to remember how she’s keeping herself hidden. 

There’s a pause of silence before Colt lets out an annoyed grunt. “Yeah... that one,” he says with a slightly strained voice, like he still has nightmares from it. 

_That sounds like Plo_ , Shaak thinks wryly to herself as she slips past them and towards the end of the hallway. Her fellow Jedi Master has been infiltrating several clone battalions and legions and corps, disappearing with several clones at his heels. It seems that he’s taking them with him to a safe haven for both Jedi and clones.

Lets out a breath she isn’t aware that she’s holding, glances back towards the clones before she slips into another hallway. This time, it’s easier to slip behind the next couple of clones Shaak comes near to, and she gently pushes the suggestion for them to move on.

The Force hums around her, feels it giving a small nudge to the right, and she goes where it directs her to.

Shadows dart along the walls when the lightning cracks across the sky again, and Shaak allows her shoulders to relax a little, debating on her current situation. Perhaps she can convince Plo to lead a small expedition to gain the Kaminoans’ data, perhaps the communication centre in order to see where the Separatists are attacking next.

All that Shaak is here to do is to gather information about the clones themselves, not freeing them, nor escaping with them. As much as her heart aches from leaving them to their cruel fate as slaves to the Separatists, she has a duty first.

And that duty is to the innocent and the weak.

Besides, she can’t leave until Plo picks her up, which is hopefully soon.

Carefully, Shaak slips behind another wall, her hand hovering next to her lightsaber as she looks to the next hallway. No one is there, but it doesn’t hurt to be too careful. Eases into a crouching position she’s learnt as a hunter, silk falling around her as she places a hand on the floor.

Can’t feel any footsteps under her hands, glances towards the shadows and slinks towards it, conceals herself within it, breathes. Then-

“Are you sunshine?” a quiet and childlike voice asks in awe behind her, makes her startle and spin around to see a clone cadet standing close to her. The Force ripples softly, seemingly centering around him and his presence in the Force is concealed, barely noticeable.

Shaak lets out a quiet sigh. No wonder this clone managed to sneak up on her, she thinks as she tilts her head, gives him a warm smile. “I’m not sure what you mean, little one,” she says, means it as she glances towards the hallway. There’s still no one, but she spreads her senses, the Force bobbing happily like waves.

The clone’s eyes don't waver from hers. “You’re sunshine,” he insists stubbornly, crosses his arms and tries to scowl at her. It ends up as a pout. “I know it. You’re really bright.”

Lifting her hand to cover her mouth and chuckles, amusement flashes inside her as she lets her hand down again. “I’m still not sure what you mean by sunshine,” Shaak tells him gently, shifts to sit on her knees.

“You’re really bright,” is all the clone says, and reaches out with his hands. She lifts her own out, his hands settling into her own like they’re supposed to fit. He’s small, looks old enough to be one of the children in the creche. Sadness worms its way to her heart, before she looks towards him.

Touching him directly allows Shaak to feel his presence in the force, gentle and shifting like the sea. It’s not wild and dangerous like Kamino’s oceans, but tamer, more soft around the edges. It’s also familiar. The clone tilts his head to the side and gives a brilliant smile to her.

“You _are_ sunshine,” he says with wonder. 

That alone makes her chuckle again. “Is that so?”

“Yeah,” the clone breathes with awe shining in dark brown eyes, then he tilts his head, bemused. “Most of the Kamioans and bounty hunters feel really cold, but _you_ don’t feel cold.”

Oh.

A Force-sensitive clone. Shaak inhales slowly, watches as the clone stands in front of her, all small, innocent, and _young_. It shouldn’t be possible, considering how Jango Fett is the original genetic template of all the clones made in Kamino. The bounty hunter is definitely not a Force-sensitive, or otherwise he would have been trained by the Jedi Order.

Everyone is equal, though, equal in the chance in whether or not they’ll be Force-sensitive. 

“What’s your name?” she asks instead, gently holds his hands.

He grips her hands tightly like she’s going to let go, lets go of a shuddering breath. “I’m CT-5385,” the clone says slowly, giving her a confused look. Fear is already showing itself in his presence, but she chooses to focus on him, gives him an encouraging smile.

“The name you chose, not your number, little one,” Shaak clarifies.

“Oh.” At that, the clone only steps closer and she lets go of his hands, and tugs him into her arms, lets him curl into her embrace. He’s so much like the children in the creche, she reflects as she gently hugs him within the shadows, the tiny clone seemingly vanishing within her silk robes. “I’m... I’m allowed to say my real name?”

“Of course,” she says gently, and the Force moves with approval at her choice. The clone only shakes in her arms, buries his face into her robes, and she lets him. He’s too young to be fighting in a war, too young to already be a soldier, but this is what the clones are created for.

The grim reality has already crashed down on her, and Shaak knows she has a duty. She has a duty to the innocent and the weak, the ones who wish for a home. Has a duty to them, but this clone is also young, created for a war that shouldn’t even exist.

Shaak has a duty, but her duty rests with the innocent and the weak. But... this clone is part of the sentients she has sworn to protect. 

“My- my name,” the clone says as tiny hands grip her robes, voice full of awe and fear and _hope_. “My name is Tup.”

Tup doesn’t remember the last time he has felt so warm.

The Togruta is bright, really bright, tender, and he remembers the way his brothers describe the sun beaming down on their faces when they get a day’s rest of peace. Rare, but- they tell him and Dogma about how warm they feel when the sunshine touches them.

It feels like that, in the Togruta’s arms and the way she feels makes him a little shaky. Bright, warm, _safe_. The only ones who make him feel this safe is Dogma and one of the brothers who train and look after them. Doesn’t remember the name, but he also feels warm and safe near him, and Dogma, as much as he’s loyal to their cause, is just as bright.

Robes shift around them, buries him within, and the Togruta lets out a soft noise that makes him look up to her with wide eyes. She only smiles at him. “That’s a very good name,” she says, soft, but approving. “Did you pick it for yourself?”

“Dogma chose it,” he tells her, and something shifts in approval, makes him know that he can trust her despite meeting for the first time. “I named him, too.”

“I see.” The Togruta slowly pulls him away from her arms, meeting his gaze firmly as she rises with a grace that doesn’t seem _possible_. She inclines her head, meets his eyes with dark grey eyes of her own. “Well, Tup, why are you out of bed?”

Tup blinks at her. “I followed you,” he says, and it’s true.

He couldn’t sleep, even with the familiar snores of his squad, and Dogma’s mutters in his sleep and then he felt something prodding at him. It shifted to something warm, bright, and he wanted to see who would be this bright when his brothers are calm and wild like the wind, and the Kaminoans and Separatists are bleak, icy.

Had slipped out of his room and followed the trail of where the brightness was going, dodging security patrols and trying to find a way to the light. Tup wasn’t scared, when the Togruta first found him. He just knows. Knows she wouldn’t try to hurt him.

He still doesn’t know why.

“You must be good if you were able to find _and_ follow me,” the Togruta says softly, a hand reaching out to pat his head. Tup only tilts his head to the side and smiles back at her, reaches out to hold one of her hands again, and she obliges him.

Her hand is big enough to cover his own, warm enough to allow him to feel how bright she is still. “Sunshine,” Tup says, and she lets out a quiet laugh, like she’s agreeing with him.

“If that’s how you want to feel me, Tup,” the Togruta murmurs, the grip on his hand gentle, but firm. “Do you need help to go back to your room?”

Something inside him shrieks out no, tells him to follow her because she’s safe, she can keep him safe, make him feel like that someone cares about him. A smaller part of him whispers he has to go back, go back and stay with Dogma and the rest of their squad. He can’t go with a stranger, but a feeling is whispering, whispering she knows something he doesn’t.

Truthfully, Tup would have to report to the superiors there’s an intruder in the facilities, but he wouldn’t see her again, never feel the Togruta’s warmth again. It feels _right_. Feels warm and tingly and he knows he can still trust her.

“No,” he says, looks up to her with determination lighting a flame inside him. “I wanna come with you.”

Surprise flits across the Togruta’s face, before it smooths into a neutral expression, but... softer. Suddenly, he feels a little worried she wouldn’t let him go with her, and she’ll tell him to go back to his room. “Are you sure?” she asks instead as she looks down at him with a tilt of her head. “You don’t know me too well.”

“You’re sunshine,” Tup tells her. “I trust you.”

Her gaze is steel. “More than your brothers and the Separatists?”

He pauses, doesn’t know what to say to that, but-

Every day, Tup has heard about the unnecessary deaths of his brothers, how they’ve died when they could have lived. Everyone’s heard about the casualty rates of General Grievous and Ventress’ battalions, and he doesn’t want that. He wants everyone to live so they can lead a better life, even if they have known none but life on Kamino.

Doesn’t want Dogma to die, even if his brother is loyal to the Separatists’ cause. Doesn’t want his squad to die when they have to make it through the war. Doesn’t want that same older brother who feels nearly as warm as the Togruta to die, either. He doesn’t want any of that, and as much as he trusts his brothers, something is telling him that he can trust her, too.

She’s trustworthy, he knows it, knows it too well.

“Yes,” he says, and means it. 

The Togruta relaxes, offers him a soft smile as she looks out towards the hallway. “You may call me Shaak, Tup,” she says, and Tup has never met someone who’s really bright and warm and has a really pretty name. “I can’t leave Kamino yet, since there’s a storm outside, and one of my... associates is rather late to pick me up.”

Tup only blinks at her, bemused. “Are you a bounty hunter?”

Shaak gives a wry smile to him. “No, I am not,” she answers. “I’m afraid that I am more honour-bound than that.”

So Shaak isn’t a bounty hunter, but she’s somehow here and she’s here for something that only Kamino has. Tup only looks up at her, thinks sunshine, trust, _warm_ , and follows her back into the hallway.


End file.
